American Airlines Ditches CCO Amid Dismal Q2 2024 Profit Forecast

American Airlines has announced that its chief commercial officer (CCO) will be leaving the company amid a dismal Q2 2024 profit forecast.

CNBC reported that the company has let Vasu Raja go as of Tuesday, May 28, and he will officially leave his position next month.

Raja’s release comes amid reports that the company has tamped down its initial profit forecast and now expects that revenues will fall as much as 6% from a year earlier, up from its initial forecast of a 3% loss.

“The carrier also trimmed its adjusted earnings estimate for the period to a projected range of $1 to $1.15 a share, down from a prior range of $1.15 to $1.45 a share,” reports the outlet. American Airlines’ stock shares fell over 14% to under $12 after it shared the news, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Look, we’ve got some fine-tuning to do,” said CEO Robert Isom on an April earnings call. “No doubt the objective here is … to hang on to all the cost savings and then also to make sure that we maximize revenue production. As we take a look at the first quarter, there’s quite likely some benefit that our competitors received because of some of … the changes that we’ve made.”

American Airlines has faced a spate of bad publicity in recent weeks, which may have contributed to the loss of consumer confidence in the brand.

Numerous legal complaints have been filed against the Dallas-Fort Worth-based airline following the arrest of Estes Carter Thompson III, a flight attendant, for allegedly photographing a 14-year-old girl while she was using the restroom on board.

Following an inquiry, it was discovered that Thompson possessed recordings of at least four additional passengers, one of whom was a 9-year-old girl traveling from Texas to Disneyland on the airline.

The family of the 9-year-old girl, whose name is being withheld, is suing American Airlines on the grounds that the airline should have known or knew that Thompson “was a danger” to both their daughter and other customers. But in court documents from last week, an American Airlines lawyer blamed the 9-year-old girl, saying she should have realized that the restroom was bugged by a recording device.

The airline responded by criticizing the submission in a statement. “Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing. The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning. We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”

According to the New York Post, American Airlines has since fired the legal team responsible for the court documents.